All out war on water clarity

[WiscoFishNut]

Due to poor decisions the water in my DT is a bit of a mess. Parameter wise things are good salinity, temp, pH, nitrates, phos, but clarity wise not so bueno. My guess is too long of a light period plus too much food and messing with mechanical filtration got me here. Some of that green is the glass needing to be cleaned, but there's definitely a slight tint to the water.

So far I've dropped in a couple 100 micron socks, a bag of BRS Rox 0.8 carbon in the sump right before the return section, and have a Green Killing Machine 24W UV unit ready to hook up after work. Just adding the socks themselves and no other changes on Friday have slowly improved things, but nowhere near enough hence the extra measures. Thankfully nothing has died so far, just unhappy. My pair of clowns have resorted to hanging out near the light mount at the back of the tank as a way to protest the deplorable conditions..

 

[piranhaman00]

The UV will clear it in a few days if not overnight. But what happened exactly? Check your parameters.

 

[chad vossen]

This cheap UV will have that water clear within 24 hours - https://amzn.to/31rlRpB

 

[eggplantparrot]

holy carp, what did you do??

 

[chad vossen]

Just saw you already have this UV, which you'll set up tonight. That'll do the job

 

[WiscoFishNut]

The UV will clear it in a few days if not overnight. But what happened exactly? Check your parameters.

holy carp, what did you do??

So basically it was a series of user error events lol. Here's a breakdown that I posted in my build thread

I decided to experiment with filtration and pretty much failed lol.
1. Pulled filter socks completely because I was tired of cleaning/replacing them. result = Bad. Clarity went to cloudy
2. Replaced sock holder with a floss tray and floss. result = Not much change TBH
2.a. Decided to start feeding more because nitrates and phosphates were at zero and feared I'd get Dinos(?). result = Terrible.. Water is cloudy as hell, glass needs cleaning daily, water is stained green
3. Put the sock holder back in and put in 2 x mesh socks hoping they'd be enough without having to replace/clean so often. result = nope, still terrible.
4. Went full circle and switched to 2 x 10.5" 100 micron socks last Friday. Showing slight improvement, but nowhere near good or even fair..

 

[Eight]

The tank doesn't look too big, why not just do a water change?

 

[brandon429]

A 100% water change plus full rinse of sandbed in freshwater and rocks in saltwater would also instantly fix it, plus that removes dead organisms

Eight good call, we were typing at the same time.

 

[Magellan]

So to make sure this doesn’t happen again...what filtration are you using in addition to the filter socks?

also +1 for massive water change, just be careful that the parameters of the new water aren’t drastically different. You may need to acclimate your clowns.

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

If you got yourself about 10000 vermetid snails, the water would be crystal clear! Lol

 

[Magellan]

If you got yourself about 10000 vermetid snails, the water would be crystal clear! Lol

Definitely don’t do this ;Hilarious

 

[Sailingeric]

+1 on a larger water change. Maybe do half now and half in a couple hours so the fish can adjust. Hard to tell but looks like you have no or little coral so turn your light off for a few days and then either ease up on the photo period or turn down the intensity. I had some algae last year when I got a new higher powered light, I turned it down by about 10% and run a little dimmer while I am work, and it has all gone away. Also ease up on the feeding, stop chasing numbers if your tank is new. We all go through the ugly stage and it will pass as your rocks mature and gets bacteria that will out compete the dinos and such.

 

[WiscoFishNut]

The tank doesn't look too big, why not just do a water change?

A 100% water change plus full rinse of sandbed in freshwater and rocks in saltwater would also instantly fix it, plus that removes dead organisms

Eight good call, we were typing at the same time.

I'll definitely do a couple water changes this week. I'd like to let the UV do it's job for a couple days first. I've been doing 25% water changes on the weekends. Its a bar bottom tank so no sand to deal with. Kinda sad you can't see the bottom lol

So to make sure this doesn’t happen again...what filtration are you using in addition to the filter socks?

also +1 for massive water change, just be careful that the parameters of the new water aren’t drastically different. You may need to acclimate your clowns.

Filtration is just 2 x socks and a Reef Octopus Classic 150 skimmer. The skimmer is doing a great job keeping nutrients down. The only measurable bit I can see is like maybe 1ppm nitrates, but usually 0.

+1 on a larger water change. Maybe do half now and half in a couple hours so the fish can adjust. Hard to tell but looks like you have no or little coral so turn your light off for a few days and then either ease up on the photo period or turn down the intensity. I had some algae last year when I got a new higher powered light, I turned it down by about 10% and run a little dimmer while I am work, and it has all gone away. Also ease up on the feeding, stop chasing numbers if your tank is new. We all go through the ugly stage and it will pass as your rocks mature and gets bacteria that will out compete the dinos and such.

I'm pretty sure somewhere along this timeline I extend the photo period. I'll post up my settings when I get a chance for some feedback.

Thanks for the advice folks!